A lot or serial is used to identify a particular unit of an item or a group of units within an item. Lot attributes are fields in addition to the lot number that provide additional information about a lot. Lot attributes describe the material characteristics of the lot. Similarly, serial attributes are fields in addition to the serial number that provide additional information about a unit. Serial attributes describe the material characteristics of the unit.
For example, in addition to a lot number, an item may be further described by lot attributes such as: creation date, kill date, age, best by date, expiration date, date code, last modified date, maturity date, expiration date, grade, color, curl/wrinkle/fold, recycled content percentage, size, thickness, thickness unit of measure (UOM), length, length UOM, volume, volume UOM, weight per area, weight UOM, area UOM, width, width UOM, country of origin, place of origin, vendor, supplier lot number, lot description, bacteria, brix scale, concentration, flavor, ink receptivity, moisture content, percentage fat, percent solid by volume, percent solids by weight, pH, potency, protein content, purity, saltiness, smell, strength, sugar content, tear, and the like. In addition to a serial number, an item may be further described by serial attributes such as: country of origin, origination dates, counters, and the like.
Every industry and every company has their own lot and/or serial attributes that they need to track. This includes capturing the attributes at the time of receipt into inventory, maintaining these attributes, viewing on-hand balances and available quantities by these attributes, supporting a range of business logic based on these attributes throughout manufacturing and distribution, and the like.
For example, a user in the chemical manufacturing industry may need to track: the creation date (for purchased items this is either the date the lot was created at the supplier or the receipt date, for manufactured items it is the date on which the lot was produced), used for replenishment and production planning; the age (days after the creation date of the lot), for use in replenishment planning; best by date, for use in production planning; date code (date of packaging or assembly), used for replenishment planning; last modified date, for use in production planning; supplier, used to identify the source of material when supplied by multiple sources; volume, used for replenishment and production planning; grade (quality), used for production planning, pricing and costing; and the like.
A user in the food and beverage distribution industry may need to track: the expiration date, used in picking rules and replenishment planning; grade (quality), used for picking rules, pricing and costing; the place of origin, used in picking rules and tracking; supplier, used to identify the source of material when supplied by multiple sources; the quantity, used in replenishment planning and picking rules; the quantity unit of measure (e.g. palate, case, each) used in replenishment planning and picking rules; and the like.
A user in the automotive service and repair may need to track the vehicle serial number; in service date, used in replacement; the date of last service; items serviced, used in part stock management; next scheduled service date, used in schedule planning and parts purchasing; mileage, used in replacement planning; and the like Currently, systems provide all lot and/or serial attributes that the system is capable of capturing, not just the lot and/or serial attributes that a user is interested in. For example, the system may be seeded with fields for capturing fifty attributes commonly used by manufacturing and distribution industries such as: biotechnology, chemical, food and beverage; fragrance, medical, metals, paint and coating, pharmaceutical; pulp and paper, semiconductor, and textiles. Such systems, while reducing systems costs by being applicable to a broad range of users, are not readily usable. The user is prompted to enter attributes that are not relevant to the particular users needs. For example, the data entry user interface provides for entering all fifty lot and/or serial attributes, although the user may only need to track 15-20 of the lot and/or serial attributes.
Alternatively, current systems are configured by the vendor for the specific application, such as food and beverage distribution. In such system, the user is only prompted for and provided with lot and serial attribute relevant to the users particular needs. However, such system are more costly because the custom configuration reduces the economy of scale cost saving achieved in generic systems.
Furthermore, the existing list of lot and serial attributes that a particular user needs to track changes from user to user. New lot and serial attributes are also regularly being added to the list of attributes that need to be tracked by such users. Therefore, current systems must be modified by the system vendor to accommodate such changes.
In addition, the lot and serial attributes to be captured vary from item to item and/or item category to item category. Thus a user currently is prompted for irrelevant attributes, or the user has to pay significant additional costs to have the system vendor further customize the system.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that is readily configurable by the user for handling lot and/or serial attributes relevant to the particular user's needs. Furthermore, there is a need for a system that provides for user-definable lot and/or serial attributes. The definition and use of the attributes must be extremely flexible and item-specific such that users are only prompted to enter the necessary attributes for a particular item.